Bankers warn Federal Reserve about farmland bubble

Friday, May 10, 2013 11:29 AM

A group of bankers that advises the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors has warned that farmland prices are inflating "a bubble" and that growth in student-loan debt has "parallels to the housing crisis," Bloomberg reported.

The concerns of the Federal Advisory Council, made up of 12 bankers who meet quarterly to advise the Fed, are outlined in meeting minutes obtained by Bloomberg through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Their alarm adds to a debate on the Federal Open Market Committee about whether the benefits from their monthly purchases of $85 billion in bonds outweigh the risk of financial instability.

Although Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has argued that the program is worth pursuing, Fed Governor Jeremy Stein and Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George are among those who have voiced concerns that an extended period of low interest rates is heightening the risk of asset bubbles.

"Agricultural land prices are veering further from what makes sense," according to minutes of the council's Feb. 8 gathering. "Members believe the run-up in agricultural land prices is a bubble resulting from persistently low interest rates."